Seahawks headed back to Atlanta for Saturday’s divisional playoff game

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Cornerback Richard Sherman #25 of the Seattle Seahawks gets the crowd going against the Atlanta Falcons at CenturyLink Field on October 16, 2016 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

Seahawks headed back to Atlanta for Saturday’s divisional playoff game

Cornerback Richard Sherman #25 of the Seattle Seahawks gets the crowd going against the Atlanta Falcons at CenturyLink Field on October 16, 2016 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

RENTON, Wash. — Four years ago, the Seattle Seahawks walked out of Atlanta after a defining moment that shaped what has taken place since.

A 30-28 loss to the Falcons in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs stung and lingered.

To this day it’s still a touchy subject after Seattle was unable to hold on to the lead in the final 30 seconds. But that loss also became the foundation for two NFC championships, a Super Bowl title and two more playoff appearances.

(Saturday’s game kicks off at 1:35 p.m., but coverage begins at 6 a.m. on the home of the Seahawks, Q13 FOX and JOEtv!)

And while the people involved have changed significantly since that game, the circumstances are just as meaningful for Seattle when it travels to Atlanta for a divisional round playoff game on Saturday.

Except instead of trying to create the foundation of being among the elite, Seattle is trying to prove it still is among the elite in the NFC.

“It’s one of those games,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said Tuesday of the loss in January 2013. “It’s one of those games you store away, but it doesn’t have anything to do with what’s going on now.”

Seattle was an upstart during the 2012 season. Led by then-rookie quarterback Russell Wilson, the Seahawks earned a wild-card spot in the NFC and knocked off Washington in the opening round.

Against Atlanta, the No. 1 seed in the NFC that season, Seattle appeared outclassed, falling behind 20-0 at halftime and 27-7 entering the fourth quarter.

That’s when Wilson pulled off one of his greatest rallies to date, leading Seattle on three fourth-quarter touchdown drives to take a 28-27 lead with 31 seconds left after a 2-yard TD run by Marshawn Lynch.

Wilson finished that day throwing for 385 yards, still a career best, but Atlanta hit two long pass plays in the final 30 seconds and Matt Bryant’s 49-yard field goal with 8 seconds left won the game for the Falcons.

“We felt like we were far, but we still had a long way to go,” Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner said. “Kind of like woke us up, but it definitely made us hungry too because when you feel like you have a great team that should win it all and you lose … and you sit there in the offseason and watch the other teams win, it gives you that hunger to come into the next season prepared and I think that’s what happened.”

K.J. Wright echoed Wagner’s feeling about the game. Wright is among a handful of key players that remain on Seattle’s roster despite the Seahawks constant churn. He believes Seattle doesn’t get to a Super Bowl without that loss.

“I believe that we weren’t quite ready yet to take it all the way,” Wright said. “I’m kind of glad that happened to us because we learned from it. We won the Super Bowl the following year so we learned from that moment.”